youtube-dl is a command-line program to download videos from various websites such as YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, etc. It is simple, regularly updated and supports a large number of options which suits all kinds of use cases.
youtube-dl is written in Python, runs in Linux, Windows and Mac OS X and can work with ffmpeg to post-process videos after downloads.
Being a command-line program gives youtube-dl the ability to support a dizzying number of options and switches, but beginners may feel a bit confuse when getting started with it. In this article, we are going to write about the top graphical user interface (GUI) to help you easily download videos with youtube-dl.
youtube-dlG or youtube-dl GUI
youtube-dlG is the first and perhaps the most popular youtube-dl GUI.
Written in Python 2 and wxPython 3, youtube-dlG officially supports Windows and Linux.
youtube-dlG supports a handful of youtube-dl functionality, include
download videos from all websites supported by youtube-dl.
supports downloading multiple videos in the same time.
can automatically convert downloaded video to audio (with format and quality options).
supports Youtube DASH videos (it automatically downloads both audio and video and merges the two optionally, it can remove the audio only and video only files).
lets you select the video format.
playlist options: you can enter the first and last video in the playlist you want to download as well as the maximum number of files to download from a playlist.
subtitles: can download all available subtitles, write subtitles to videos, lets you select the subtitles language.
options to write description to file, write thumbnails to disk, limit download speed and min/max file size, etc.
supports settings the user agent, referrer, login to download video, proxy support.
automatically downloads youtube-dl and keeps it updated.
supports specifying command line arguments that are passed to youtube-dl.
While still being usable, youtube-dlG has not been updated since the end of 2018. You may encouter strange errors while using it because of outdated source code. We strongly advise you not to use youtube-dlG in mission-critical tasks.
Project homepage : https://github.com/MrS0m30n3/youtube-dl-gui
Tartube
Tartube is a GUI front-end for youtube-dl, partly based on mrs0m30n3’s youtube-dl-gui and written in Python 3 / GTK 3. It runs on all major platforms, include Windows, Linux and Mac OS.In order to install Tartube, you have to go to its release page and grab the executable file for your platform of choice.
Tartube supports encoding videos with FFmpeg, but it must be installed separately. You can do this either by downloading the installer from FFmpeg homepage or select Operations > Install FFmpeg in Tartube (Windows only).
Perhaps the best thing about Tartube is its ability to check and update youtube-dl automatically inside the application.As an unofficial tool, youtube-dl have to adapt to changes from video services from time to time. Manually update it everytime you need to download a video can be frustrating, thankfully that’s not the case with Tartube.
Detailed information about how to install Tartube for each platform can be found on Tartube GitHub Page
youtube-dl-gui
Despite the same name as mrs0m30n3 project, youtube-dl-gui is actually a new application Jelle Glebbeek developed during the social distancing time. Written using JavaScript combined with Electron, it stands out to be an easy to use program with beautiful interface.
youtube-dl-gui supports many of youtube-dl features, below is a non-comprehensive list of them:
- Download videos in all qualities up to 8K (if available)
- Download (parts of) playlists
- Download and extract audio (mp3)
- Download private videos
- Lightning fast download speeds with caching & multiple processing
- Shows an estimated download size before downloading the videos
- Automatic update on Windows and Linux. (macOS version only has an update notification)
Regular updates and bugfixes along with responsive, beautiful UI is a strong advantage of youtube-dl-gui. The application is distributed in executable files for Windows, Linux and MacOS.
You will need to download the appropriate file in youtube-dl-gui release page (.exe for Windows, .dmg for MacOS and .AppImage for Linux). You may want to check out our guide on how to install and use AppImage in Linux.
Gydl
Gydl is a simple GUI wrapper for youtube-dl, written in Python.
Although it has not been updated for about a year (as of this writing), our test shows that the tool still works flawlessly.
For those of you who just want a simple GUI with a “just work” experience, Gydl fits nicely.
Only packages for Arch Linux and Fedora is provided by the original developer. To install Gydl on other distros, you need to use Flatpak.
Project homepage : https://github.com/JannikHv/gydl
ydl-ui
YDL-UI is an UI for the command-line video downloader youtube-dl, developed with C# and runs on Windows only.
YDL-UI provides a simplified way to download videos using youtube-dl, without the hassle of using the command-line. This is achieved by dynamically generating youtube-dl argument queries that can be run with a click of a button.
Each version of YDL-UI is packaged with a specific release of youtube-dl and ffmpeg. This way, beginners won’t have to install these components manually. But it also means that users have no way to update if there is a change from video services.
Installation files can be downloaded from YDL-UI release page. You may need to install .NET Framework 4.5 and Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86) first.
Project homepage : https://github.com/Maxstupo/ydl-ui
Videomass
Videomass is a free, open source GUI for FFmpeg and youtube-dl. It is written in Python3 with the wxPython-Phoenix toolkit and runs cross-platform, supports Windows, Linux and MacOS.
Videomass interface is designed for FFmpeg enthusiasts who need to manage many profiles and automate some conversion processes. You can create and manage FFmpeg presets and profiles to transcode multimedia streams from various formats.
Youtube-dl is used internally in Videomass as a support library for downloading videos from the internet.
Please note that Videomass runs on 64-bit systems only.
In Ubuntu or Debian-based Linux distribution, you can either install Videomass using apt after adding its PPA or use its AppImage.
If you didn’t know what an AppImage is, read our beginners guide on how to use AppImage.
Windows and MacOS users can grab .exe or .dmg files from Videomass Download page
Project homepage : https://github.com/jeanslack/Videomass
Persepolis
Persepolis is not exactly a GUI built for youtube-dl. Instead, it is a full-fledged download manager and GUI for aria2, leverage youtube-dl’s power for video downloading functionality.
Written in Python, Persepolis is made cross-platform and runs effortlessly in Windows, MacOS and almost all Linux distribution. Its features include:
- Simple and clean theme-compliant Graphical User Interface.
- 100% free to download and use.
- Supports TOR and SOCKS proxies
- Customizable using themes
- Support for multi-segment downloading
- Set downloads ahead of time using schedules.
- Organize downloads using queues.
- Download videos from YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, etc.
- Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Vivaldi extension support.
Installation for each platform can be found at Persepolis official page : https://persepolisdm.github.io/.
Project homepage : https://github.com/persepolisdm/persepolis
Alltube
Alltube is a web-based GUI for youtube-dl written in PHP.
While being a bit hard to setup for beginners, it is undeniable that a web-based interface will allow you to download video from any device.
You can also start a website with the source code of Alltube, since it is released under GNU General Public License.
Further details and setup information can be found at Alltube github page : https://github.com/Rudloff/alltube
Get It
Get It is a macOS-only GUI for youtube-dl written in Swift.
With a modest interface, Get-It only supports a handful of mostly used youtube-dl features. However, in our test, it works fine for daily use.
Project homepage : https://github.com/Kevin-De-Koninck/Get-It
Metube – a youtube-dl web-UI with modern features
Metube is a new but promising web-UI for youtube-dl. This allows Metube to run in any platform that supports a modern browser.
To build and run Metube locally, you need Node.js and Python3. Alternatively, you can also run it via Docker, which made the whole setup faster and easier.
Find more details about Metube at https://github.com/alexta69/metube
Conclusion
If you are using Windows, we recommend Tartube or Videomass as your main youtube-dl GUI
For Linux users, the best youtube-dl GUI should be Tartube, or if Persepolis if you also want a download manager.
For MacOS, you can use Get It to get a “just work” experience. Another option is Tartube for more demanding task.
Overall, we think the best youtube-dl GUI that can runs on multiple platform is Tartube.
There’s also MeTube (https://github.com/alexta69/metube), a docker-installable web UI with playlist support.